come under this roof again. I have finally
settled the point, and you have nothing further now, nor anything worse,
to dread from him. I have given the villain his _nunc dimittis_ once and
forever, and you will never see him more."

"But I fear, papa," she replied, feebly, "that, as I said before, it is
now too late. I feel that he has killed me. I know not how I will
pass this night. I dread the hours of sleep above all conditions of my
unhappy existence. O, no wonder that the entrance of that man-demon to
our house should be heralded by the storms and hurricanes of heaven, and
that the terrible fury of the elements, as indicative of the Almighty's
anger, should mark his introduction to our family. Then the prodigy
which took place when the bonfires were lighted to welcome his accursed
return--the shower of blood! O, may God support me, and, above all
things, banish him from my dreams! Still, I feel some relief by the
knowledge that he is not to come here again. Yes, I feel that it
relieves me; but, alas! I fear that even the consciousness of that
cannot prevent the awful impression that I think I am near death."

"No, darling," replied her mother, "don't allow that thought to gain
upon you. We'll get a fairy-man or a fairy-woman, because they know the
best remedies against everything of that kind, when a common leech or
chirurgeon can do nothing."

"No," replied her father, "I will allow nothing of the kind under this
roof. It's not a safe thing to have dealings with such people. We know
that the Church forbids it. Perhaps it's a witch we might stumble
on; and would it not be a frightful thing to see one of those who are
leagued with the devil bringing their unconsecrated breaths about us
this week, as it were, and, perhaps, burned the next? No, we will have
a regular physician, who has his own character, as such, to look to and
support by his honesty and skill, but none of those withered classes of
hell that are a curse to the country."

"Very well," replied Mrs. Goodwin, "have your own way in it. I dare say
you are right."

"O, don't bring any fairy-women or fairy-men about me," said Alice. "The
very sight of them would take away the little life I have left."

In the meantime Harry Woodward, who had a variety of plans and projects
to elaborate, found himself, as every villain of his kind generally
does, encompassed by doubt and apprehension of their failure. The reader
will understand the condition of his hear